Keynsham go-kart track plan refused

PLANS to turn an empty Keynsham warehouse into a go-kart track have been turned down.

The former IJ McGill Transport warehouse (pictured) near Waitrose has stood empty since 2022.

In June last year, TeamSport submitted a planning application to Bath and North East Somerset Council to turn the building into their next go-kart venue.

The company, which runs 35 karting centres around the country, said: “It will create approximately 40 new jobs and will deliver investment in the local economy.”

But now the plans have been rejected on the grounds that they would reduce employment space.
The plans were also refused because of the effect on people living nearby.

Councillor Andy Wait (Keynsham East, Liberal Democrat) warned that the karting track would cause “noise at unreasonable and unsocial times, damaging the quality of life and the health of those living close by.”

The plans had originally come before the planning committee in November, when TeamSport was proposing a centre running seven days a week from 8am to 11pm.

But the meeting heard that people living nearby in Unity Road were opposed to the scheme, saying the only respite they would get from noise, traffic and antisocial behaviour would be Christmas Day.

Councillors sent the plans back to the applicant, asking TeamSport to consider reducing their proposed opening hours by closing at 7pm on Sundays and 10pm Monday to Thursday.

But the company declined, stating that the shorter opening hours requested by the council would make the business unviable.

TeamSport said: “The application has robustly demonstrated that the proposal will not give rise to unacceptable impacts on neighbouring amenity; therefore, reducing the opening hours to the times suggested would not be necessary.”

Planning committee member Tim Warren (Midsomer Norton Redfield, Conservative) said it was “a shame” the company had not agreed to reduce the proposed opening hours.

But he was concerned that the proposed go-kart centre was in the wrong place. He proposed refusing planning permission, despite the council’s planning officers recommending that it should go ahead.

Councillors on the committee voted 8-2 to refuse the plans.

John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service